Politics
Out of context: Reply #2273
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Here again, in no particular order and in all humility, I offer a few such probes.
--If the marketplace is global, but the rules that oversee it are national, how can that work?
--If we don't understand the "products" of the market because they are too complex--credit swaps, derivatives etc.--how can we, the citizens, know if they are properly regulated?
--If the bailouts are ultimately paid by the taxpayer, where will the taxpayer get the money from as the economy collapses? From the bailouts? This would involve the government taking our money in order to give it back. What do you call this system?
--Top CEOs get sweetheart contracts because of competition for hiring them. They get rewarded even if the company fails. If the company's big enough, it destabilizes the economy and hits the taxpayer. We didn't elect those CEOs and we didn't have a say in their contracts. Is this not taxation without representation?
--Every five to 10 years, the stock market loses a third of its value, it seems. Does this mean its true total value is nearer the bottom and the rest is hype, or nearer the top and the rest is fear?
--If China becomes the world's manufacturing center, sells us its products, takes our money, and lends us the money back to keep buying from them, is this global wealth or codependency?
--Hedge funds, buyouts and the like, are all about cutting fat, revamping productivity and value, which ultimately leads to everyone working around the clock to be competitive--that is, everyone in the world. The world's capitals are already full of boring people (and their spoilt, neglected, designer-obsessed brood), the only ones who can afford it, who work impossible hours in order to make everyone else work like them. Their single virtue was that they "created wealth." It turns out they didn't. What about their philanthropy? It was ultimately borrowed from us. What do you call this system of wealth distribution?
I call it the socialism of bankers.
Melik Kaylan, a writer based in New York, writes a weekly column for Forbes.com.